Tufts Women's college basketball 76 at University of New England 50

BIDDEFORD, Maine — Starting the 3rd quarter with a 11-1 run, No. 1 Tufts University extended its 12-point halftime lead on the way to a 76-50 women’s basketball victory over the University of New England on Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Forum.

The Jumbos improve to 8-0 on the year, while the Nor’easters slip back to 6-3 overall.

Michaela North (Duxbury, Mass.) and Josie Lee (Augusta, Maine) paced Tufts with 13 points apiece, and North added 12 rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Melissa Baptista (Somerville, Mass.) contributed 11 points, and Jacqueline Knapp (Westfield, N.J.) had nine. Lauren Dillon (Wellesley, Mass.) notched six assists to guide the attack, which made 45 percent of its field goal attempts in the contest.

The visitors also posted a 44-28 advantage on the boards and scored 24 points off of 17 UNE turnovers, to overcome 20 turnovers of their own.

For the hosts, Alicia Brown (Greenland, N.H.) tallied 16 points and grabbed six rebounds. Brown had 14 of her points prior to the midway break, and, late in the 2nd quarter, became the 24th player in UNE program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau (now 1,003).

Supporting for the Nor’easters was Kristie McNall (Wakefield, Mass.), who tossed in all of her 14 points in the 4th period. Olivia Allrich (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) finished with eight.

The Tufts defense held UNE to 32 percent accuracy from the floor on the day. The home team also connected on slightly more than half (17) of its 30 free throw attempts.

After the opening hoop went for Big Blue, the Jumbos rattled off 11 straight and possessed a 14-11 lead through 10 minutes. Lee canned all three of her long-distance tries in the stanza.

Dillon helped the cushion into double digits (27-16) with a pair of triples in the 2nd, and the gap with 36-24 at intermission. Percentage-wise, Tufts was out-shot in the half by a 53%-33% margin, but beat the Nor’easters by seven from behind the arc and registered nine second-chance points on 10 offensive caroms.

The Jumbos surged out of the gate in the 3rd, assuming a 47-25 lead by the 8:13 mark. North had seven points in the stretch. Tufts made 9-of-14 from the field in the frame and built the spread up to 26 (59-33) by the end of 30 minutes. The difference reached 36 (70-34) in the 4th.

Tufts returns home to close out the calendar year against Emerson College on Tuesday night.